We the people formed anew in Christ are the new creation spreading throughout the old creation. We are citizens of heaven invading the earth with Christ’s love. He sends us now, as renewed people to be ambassadors with his message of reconciliation. So, the triune God continues to create new life as his church, his body, his people flow into the weary old world.

The old Scottish pastor Alexander Whyte gives the illustration that when the sun comes up every morning, it bakes clay but melts butter. The exact same event has radically different effects on different characters, different personalities. The Lord knows how he has made each and every one of us, and if we are open to his leading, he can take the events of our life, even the ones he brings that we believe are unfair and shape them for our good and His glory. 

Amidst all the other calendars of your life, keep time with Jesus. Coordinate your life to his life. Keep watch with Jesus this Lent as you take up the golden threads of the redeeming story that runs from beginning to end. Let your first thought every morning be “The night has passed. The day lies open before us. Let me put on the armor of life and go forth to make the most of the time.”

There is peril in unforgiveness. Refusing to forgive someone is equated with asking to have back the entire debt of all your own mistakes, neglects, transgressions and sins. The king in the parable tossed that unforgiving servant back into prison until the last penny would be paid. In conclusion, Jesus speaks devastatingly clear words as he drops the mike, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”